The Papers of Louis J. Hazam

From 1938 to 1945, Mr. Hazam was a scriptwriter for the U. S. Department of the Interior. By 1945 he was writing for radio and television and continued until 1949. He started his career in television in 1947 when he was hired as a consultant for NBC News. In this capacity he wrote and produced television productions for NBC's coverage of the 1952, 1956 and 1960 national political conventions.

After covering the inauguration of President Eisenhower, Mr. Hazam worked on the 1956 series March of Medicine, which was the first program to show a surgical operation, the birth of a baby, and the first to visit a mental hospital. March of Medicine was the first television program to win an Albert Lasker Medical Journalism Award. Mr. Hazam's biography of Vincent Van Gogh, based on his letters, Vincent Van Gogh: A Self-Portrait, won both Peabody and Emmy awards in 1962.

Mr. Hazam's productions were known for their exotic locales and original locations. His production, Shakespeare: Soul of an Age, for instance, was filmed in England, Scotland, Wales and France and The River Nile was filmed from the river's source in the Mountains of the Moon in Central Africa to its mouth at the Mediterranean. For Michelangelo: The Last Giant, film crews went to Florence, Siena, Bologna, Rome and Milan.

His productions were also noted for not employing actors. He is quoted as saying, "I don't believe in using actors in documentaries. It lends a note of falsity. A documentary is supposed to be a reflection of truth, of actuality as much as possible." He used many noted actors as narrators for his documentaries, including: Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Peter Ustinov, and Raymond Massey.

Mr. Hazam won many awards during his career. They include the: Christopher Award, 1961; George Foster Peabody Award, 1962; Emmy Award, 1962 and 1972; bronze award, 1962, and first place documentary award, 1963, Venice Film Festival; Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 1963, 1964, and 1966. He was decorated by King Constantine of Greece for his production, Greece: The Golden Age, in 1963.

Mr. Hazam died on September 6, 1983, at age 72, from heart and kidney ailments.

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The Papers of Louis J. Hazam have been divided into the following series:

Series I: Radio Scripts

Series II: Television Scripts


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In the series, Home Is What You Make It, many famous actors appeared on the programs at one time or another. Included are: Art Carney, Melvyn Douglas and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It was also broadcast as a series of the NBC University of the Air.

Living, which ran from 1948-1952 was the successor to Home Is What You Make It and was a weekly documentary series. Ben Grauer was the narrator of many episodes and some scripts were co-authored with Wade Arnold.

Series II: Television Scripts, 1950 - 1971, (0.75 lin. ft)

This series includes scripts from Mr. Hazam's career as a television writer and producer. They include: Battle Report, Washington, (1950-51); March of Medicine, (1950s), The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, II (1953); In Search of Beauty, (n.d.); The Eternal Harvest, (n.d.); Projection '58, (1958); Polaris Submarine: Journal of an Undersea Voyage, (1962); Orient Express, (1964); John F. Kennedy Remembered, (1964); Inter-American Highway: Bridge of the Americas, (1965); The National Gallery of Art, (1967); Venice Be Damned, (1971); and, Breakthrough, (n.d.).

Battle Report, Washington aired on Sunday in Washington, D.C., and was narrated by David Brinkley. This was Brinkley's first exposure to television.

For further information, contact the Library of American Broadcasting.